POPE LEO’S MESSAGE TO THE FRENCH BISHOPS ABOUT UNITY—NOT FLAT UNITY (WHAT DOES THAT MEAN AND MY DECIPHERING OF IT)…

This unity is not a flat uniformity, but rather allows every sensibility that is authentically Catholic to converge naturally in a common profession of faith, through obedience to the legitimate Pastors and especially to the Successor of Peter, who is the “lasting and visible source and foundation of the unity both of faith and of communion”

The money quote above from Pope Leo’s longer paragraph on unity tells me a couple of things. He is acknowledging how the SSPX schism has affected the Church in France with a disunifying spirit. 

But Pope Leo also says that our unity isn’t a flat unity with no diversity or pluralism. Here I point out the obvious, the Catholic Church throughout the ages has had a variety of “Catholic” spiritualities, devotions and styles of celebrating the Liturgy both in the East and the West. 

I think Pope Leo is trying to find a way forward that allows the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass Roman Missal of 1962 by making sure there are no ideological movements to replace the Modern Missal by those who ridicule the modern Missal as somehow bogus, an unfortunate term that many so-called traditionalists use against the post-Vatican II Bugnini Mass and all things Vatican II. I have said for the entire period of Pope Francis papacy that once faithful Catholics to the Holy Father were shooting themselves in the foot by the contempt and disrespect they showed to Pope Francis borrowing the heterodox left’s expertise on being opposed to the papacies of Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. 

Here’s the entire moneybyte: 

In addition to these issues, another which could give cause for concern about the future is that of unity.  In this regard, allow me to recall how essential it is for Jesus’ disciples to be united in charity, as Jesus asked of his Father, “that they may all be one… so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn 17:21).  The Church in France is a little flock that must gather her strength for the mission. Ideological divisions would render her witness in vain.  Throughout the history of the Church there have always been tensions, but when they arise they can also help us appreciate more deeply the gift of unity.  This unity is not a flat uniformity, but rather allows every sensibility that is authentically Catholic to converge naturally in a common profession of faith, through obedience to the legitimate Pastors and especially to the Successor of Peter, who is the “lasting and visible source and foundation of the unity both of faith and of communion” (SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 18).  This is a dynamic unity, nourished by the tradition of the Church — from the Fathers to the Second Vatican Council— and by the post-conciliar Magisterium.  At the same time, it is a unity that is enriched through reciprocal dialogue, rooted in faith and expressed in the synodal style that we have been seeking to deepen in recent times.